Bakersfield.com Marylee Shrider

Marylee Shrider: We must learn to live within our means

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 12:36:29 PDT

It seems to me the best way to survive the current economic crisis is to heed the advice of those who survived the last one. The big one.

It's a concept many of our state and federal leaders, including our new president, apparently fail to grasp, given their predilection for higher taxes and $800 billion spending sprees.

Absense of newspapers hurts communities

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 12:54:46 PDT

When you're 70-something and your day starts before dawn and the world is hushed and the coffee's hot and you walk out your front door and -- rats! -- there's not a newspaper in sight -- well, your morning is pretty much shot.

That's what the nice lady said a few years ago, when her call found its way to my newsroom phone, instead of circulation.

Marylee Shrider: Absence of newspapers hurts communities

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 18:16:19 PDT

When you’re 70-something and your day starts before dawn and the world is hushed and the coffee’s hot and you walk out your front door and — rats! — there’s not a newspaper in sight — well, your morning is pretty much shot.

That’s what the nice lady said a few years ago, when her call found its way to my newsroom phone, instead of circulation.

Marylee Shrider: Once again, Harvey Milk Day is a bad idea

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 18:16:57 PDT

Didn’t we just do this?

Wasn’t it a mere six months ago that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed legislation designating Harvey Milk’s birthday a day of “special significance in California’s public schools?

Marylee Shrider: Student's freedom quashed in college classroom

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:02:33 PDT

Think freedom of speech is alive and well on California’s college campuses?

I’m starting to wonder.

Ministry FLOODs needy with food, love, prayer

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:22:55 PDT

A couple years ago, a Bakersfield church gave a few of its members a bit of seed money with instructions to “get out there.”

Now, every Saturday night downtown, the hungry are fed, the friendless are befriended and lives are transformed.

Marylee Shrider: Hold onto at least some school library services

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:26:37 PDT

A bit of friendly advice: Don’t mess with librarians.

They have words and they know how to use them.

Marylee Shrider: Tech education a big win for students

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:26:36 PDT

At last.

Tech Ed is back.

Marylee Shrider: Don't panic over prospect of school budget cuts — yet

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:26:36 PDT

Budget woes are nothing new for our schools, but impending budget cuts really have parents talking.

“Did you hear?” one anxious mom asked me this week. “Stockdale High School cut their band.”

Marylee Shrider: Events of this week point to wild ride of a year

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:34:10 PDT

What a week.

What an exhilarating, surprising, maddening week.

Marylee Shrider: Let's start with enforcing smoking laws we already have

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:40:38 PDT

Yet another report came out this week, confirming that Kern County is a miserable place to live.

Just last week, Bakersfield made Forbes.com’s list of America’s 10 most boring cities. This week we have the news that we were fourth in the nation in property foreclosures in 2008, and, on Thursday, the American Lung Association of California gave Kern County a big fat “F” for its failure to protect its people from second-hand smoke.

Marylee Shrider: Businesses that take care of customers will survive

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:41:55 PDT

News alert: We’re in the midst of an economic meltdown and consumers aren’t spending like they used to.

I only mention it because there are retailers in Bakersfield who don’t seem to know it.

Marylee Shrider: Ministering in Romania all about God

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:50:23 PDT

Christmas is still a few days away, but DeAnn Sampley already has what she asked for.

Exhausted after returning Thursday from Romania, the Bakersfield College professor was utterly spent in the name of the one whose birth we celebrate next week.

Marylee Shrider: Teen speaks about mental illness to help others

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:56:35 PDT

There she sat, smiling up at me, her sweet spirit intact, her proud mom by her side.

Ashley Nommensen has fought hard against bipolar disorder for four years, but when I bumped into her last week amid the hustle of the holiday season, she looked positively joyful.

Marylee Shrider: Time to grow economy, not shrink it

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:43:18 PDT

If the phone rings in the next week or so and it’s Americans for Prosperity calling, don’t hang up.

They don’t want your money. They want you to hang on to it. More of it, in fact.